Saved again: Country Barn, other Chapman properties avoid foreclosure

Herring Bank canceled Tuesday’s planned foreclosure sales of Country Barn Steakhouse and other properties owned by Amarillo developer George Chapman’s companies because a repayment agreement has been negotiated, the bank’s attorney said.

Herring Bank posted notice on May 8 it intended to sell the properties owned by the Country Barn Steakhouse limited liability company and G.R. Chapman Limited Partnership on Tuesday in a foreclosure sale at Potter County Courthouse, bank attorney Don Sunderland said.

Documents filed at the courthouse on May 8 claim Chapman’s companies had defaulted on debts totaling more than $5 million.

The proceeds of the sale would have been applied to outstanding balances on the loans, according to the filing.

But a substitute trustee appointed to auction the properties canceled the sale on Monday “as a result of an agreement entered between Herring Bank and Mr. Chapman and the related borrowing entities,” Sunderland said.

Chapman declined to comment about the situation on Tuesday. His attorney, Reuben Hancock, did not take a call Tuesday seeking comment.

Herring Bank President and CEO Danny Skarda said he is “optimistic” about the agreement.

Herring Bancorp Chairman Coney Burgess said he had no direct involvement in the negotiations but expressed “total faith in George. I know George will work himself out of this. We’re totally confident that this will work out to his benefit.”

The sale notice covered the restaurant, 204 acres adjacent to Chapman’s Woodlands residential development, 124 acres north of Interstate 40 near Big Texan Steak Ranch, seven acres south of West Amarillo Boulevard and east of Loop 335, and a tract east of Oak Express on Interstate 40 that runs north of Westgate Chevrolet to South Coulter Street.

Tuesday’s sale actually was the second scheduled sale of Chapman properties to be canceled by Herring Bank. The first was to be held on May 7, but it did not occur.

That day, Chapman said he had reached a payment agreement with Herring Bank and two other lenders that also sought to foreclose on Chapman-owned properties, primarily area ranch acreage.

But Herring Bank reposted a notice of foreclosure one day later, on May 8.

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